Romans 8:18-21, 31-32 - For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ... What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?"

This devotion pairs with this weekend's Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lutheranhour.org.

When I was growing up in the Christian church, I got the impression that the hope promised by the Bible was a never-ending disembodied existence after death. That's what "eternal life in heaven" meant to me: floating in the clouds, hovering in a mist, forever. To be honest, the prospect didn't have much of a pull on me. I kind of liked this physical world, but I assumed that God had no permanent stake in it. Then someone showed me this passage from Romans 8.

In this chapter, the apostle Paul says that when the crucified and risen Jesus comes back for us, the whole physical world will be set free from its bondage to decay. The whole creation will be brought into the new life that will come when Jesus returns to raise the dead and restore all things. For me, this insight was a hook that pulled the disparate threads of the Bible's massive storyline together—the beginning, middle, and end. I knew the Bible story began with God creating the physical world and everything in it, and calling it "good," seven times over. But this passage helped me appreciate how the end will be a return to the beginning, only better. And in the middle, on the cross and through the resurrection, there is Jesus, pulling for us, bringing us to that end goal, despite our sin and separation from God, committed as ever to that "very good" God spoke once in the beginning.

Jesus is in the middle, so that also makes Him our model. God's Holy Spirit is shaping and forming us to be like Jesus, as we hear Paul say in Romans 8:29. Jesus pulls for us, so we pull for others, but to a different degree. Jesus is pulling for the entire universe—every planet, proton, and person. You and I, we're called to pull for the people around us. "Love your neighbor," that's our calling. Not quite like Jesus—but, yes, like Jesus! When we trust in Jesus, that He can and will do what He promises, God's Spirit does something inside us. He lives inside us, and around us, and above us—pulling all the threads of our disparate stories together in Him. And like Him, we pull for those around us.

WE PRAY: Dear Jesus, You are at the center, let me be at Your side, and live like You. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker of The Lutheran Hour.

Reflection Questions:

1. Who are some people God has put in your life to pull for you? Could you name 5? How about 10?

2. How could you go out of your way to thank them?

3. Who is someone who would be blessed to have you pulling for them?

Today's Bible Readings: Psalms 1-2, 10    Acts 16:22-40

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